Electronic device and method of registering fingerprint in electronic device

ABSTRACT

An electronic device includes: a fingerprint input unit located in one area of the electronic device to receive a fingerprint of a user; and a controller configured to control a display unit to display information on a fingerprint registration progress situation in correspondence to a plurality of fingerprints that are sequentially input to the fingerprint input unit, determine whether a fingerprint of the user is to be registered according to the fingerprint registration progress situation information, and register a fingerprint of the user by using at least some of the plurality of fingerprints. A fingerprint registration progress situation can be identified when a fingerprint is registered.

CROSS-REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATION AND CLAIM OF PRIORITY

The present application is related to and claims benefit under 35 U.S.C.§119(a) to Korean Application Serial No. 10-2015-0021898, which wasfiled in the Korean Intellectual Property Office on Feb. 12, 2015, theentire content of which is hereby incorporated by reference.

TECHNICAL FIELD

Various embodiments of the present disclosure relate to an electronicdevice and a method of registering a fingerprint in the electronicdevice.

BACKGROUND

Recently, electronic devices have been developed, including variousfunctions, for example, capturing of a picture or video, Internetcommunication, and the like, in addition to a simple call function. Asthe electronic devices encompass various functions, security of personalinformation is becoming more important. In particular, the personalinformation security is very important for an electronic device thatincludes functions that may cause significantly serious damage when theyare illegally used by a stranger such as Internet financial services andthe like. In this way, as importance of security of electronic devicesincreases, security functions of various methods are equipped torestrict use of the electronic devices by other users.

For the security, biological features are used to identify persons, andstudies on the security technologies using various pieces of bodyinformation such as a fingerprint, a voice, a retina, a face, and aniris are being made. Among the various pieces of body information, thepatterns of fingerprints of individuals are different, and inparticular, because the danger of imitating fingerprints is low and thefingerprints rarely change during the lifetime, a security technology isgetting the spotlight.

SUMMARY

The electronic device displays an execution screen that is irrelevant toa fingerprint of the user that is registered when the fingerprint of theuser is registered, consumes much time in registering a fingerprintbecause fingerprints may not be recognized frequently if a location of afinger is wrongly input when the fingerprint is registered, and cannotidentify whether the fingerprint is properly registered or how clearlythe actual fingerprint of the user is registered.

Furthermore, when the electronic device fails to recognize afingerprint, guide information for registration of a fingerprint, otherthan guide information that informs that the fingerprint cannot berecognized, is not provided.

To address the above-discussed deficiencies, it is a primary object toprovide, for example, an electronic device that can display informationon a fingerprint registration progress situation in correspondence to aplurality of sequentially input fingerprints, can determine whether afingerprint of the user is to be registered according to the informationon the fingerprint registration progress situation, and can register thefingerprint of the user by using at least some of the plurality offingerprints, and a method of registering a fingerprint in an electronicdevice.

In accordance with an aspect of the present disclosure, there isprovided an electronic device including: a fingerprint input unit thatsequentially receives a fingerprint of a user sensed by at least onesensor; a display unit; and a controller configured to control thedisplay unit to display information of an initially receivedfingerprint, change a display attribute of at least one fingerprint ofthe user that is sequentially received after the initially receivedfingerprint of the user, control the display unit to display informationof the at least one fingerprint of the user according to the changeddisplay attribute, and register a final fingerprint generated using atleast one of the plurality of sequentially received fingerprint.

In accordance with another aspect of the present disclosure, there isprovided a method of registering a fingerprint in an electronic device,the method including: sequentially receiving fingerprints of a user;displaying information of an initially received fingerprint of a user;changing a display attribute of at least one fingerprint of the userthat is sequentially received after the initially received fingerprintof the user; displaying the at least one fingerprint of the useraccording to the changed display attribute; and registering a finalfingerprint generated using at least one of the plurality ofsequentially received fingerprints.

The electronic device and the method of registering a fingerprint in anelectronic device according to various embodiments of the presentdisclosure can identify a fingerprint registration progress situation bydisplaying information on the fingerprint registration progresssituation in correspondence to a plurality of sequentially inputfingerprints, and can register a fingerprint of the user by using atleast some of the plurality of fingerprints by determining whether afingerprint of the user is to be registered according to the fingerprintregistration progress situation information.

Before undertaking the DETAILED DESCRIPTION below, it may beadvantageous to set forth definitions of certain words and phrases usedthroughout this patent document: the terms “include” and “comprise,” aswell as derivatives thereof, mean inclusion without limitation; the term“or,” is inclusive, meaning and/or; the phrases “associated with” and“associated therewith,” as well as derivatives thereof, may mean toinclude, be included within, interconnect with, contain, be containedwithin, connect to or with, couple to or with, be communicable with,cooperate with, interleave, juxtapose, be proximate to, be bound to orwith, have, have a property of, or the like; and the term “controller”means any device, system or part thereof that controls at least oneoperation, such a device may be implemented in hardware, firmware orsoftware, or some combination of at least two of the same. It should benoted that the functionality associated with any particular controllermay be centralized or distributed, whether locally or remotely.Definitions for certain words and phrases are provided throughout thispatent document, those of ordinary skill in the art should understandthat in many, if not most instances, such definitions apply to prior, aswell as future uses of such defined words and phrases.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

The above and other aspects, features, and advantages of the presentdisclosure will be more apparent from the following detailed descriptiontaken in conjunction with the accompanying drawings, in which: For amore complete understanding of the present disclosure and itsadvantages, reference is now made to the following description taken inconjunction with the accompanying drawings, in which like referencenumerals represent like parts:

FIG. 1 illustrates a configuration example of an electronic deviceaccording to various embodiments of the present disclosure;

FIG. 2 illustrates an operation procedure of an electronic deviceaccording to various embodiments of the present disclosure;

FIG. 3 illustrates a fingerprint registration screen of an electronicdevice according to various embodiments of the present disclosure;

FIG. 4 illustrates an operation procedure of an electronic deviceaccording to various embodiments of the present disclosure;

FIG. 5 illustrates fingerprint recognition in an electronic deviceaccording to various embodiments of the present disclosure;

FIGS. 6A, 6B, 6C, 6D and 6E illustrate a fingerprint registration screenof an electronic device according to various embodiments of the presentdisclosure;

FIGS. 7A, 7B, 7C, 7D and 7E illustrate a fingerprint registration screenof an electronic device according to various embodiments of the presentdisclosure;

FIGS. 8A, 8B, 8C, 8D and 8E illustrate a fingerprint registration screenof an electronic device according to various embodiments of the presentdisclosure;

FIG. 9 illustrates a fingerprint registration screen of an electronicdevice according to various embodiments of the present disclosure;

FIG. 10 illustrates a fingerprint registration screen of an electronicdevice according to various embodiments of the present disclosure;

FIGS. 11A, 11B, 11C and 11D illustrate a fingerprint registration screenof an electronic device according to various embodiments of the presentdisclosure;

FIG. 12 illustrates a fingerprint registration screen of an electronicdevice according to various embodiments of the present disclosure;

FIG. 13 illustrates an operation procedure of an electronic deviceaccording to various embodiments of the present disclosure;

FIGS. 14A, 14B, 14C, 14D and 14E illustrate a fingerprint registrationscreen of an electronic device according to various embodiments of thepresent disclosure;

FIG. 15 illustrates a fingerprint registration screen of an electronicdevice according to various embodiments of the present disclosure;

FIGS. 16A, 16B, 16C, 16D and 16E illustrate a fingerprint registrationscreen of an electronic device according to various embodiments of thepresent disclosure;

FIGS. 17A, 17B, 17C, 17D and 17E illustrate a fingerprint registrationscreen of an electronic device according to various embodiments of thepresent disclosure;

FIG. 18 illustrates a fingerprint registration screen of an electronicdevice according to various embodiments of the present disclosure;

FIGS. 19A, 19B, 19C, 19D and 19E illustrate a fingerprint registrationscreen of an electronic device according to various embodiments of thepresent disclosure;

FIG. 20 illustrates a detailed structure of an electronic deviceaccording to an embodiment of the present disclosure; and

FIG. 21 illustrates a detailed structure of an electronic deviceaccording to an embodiment of the present disclosure.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION

FIGS. 1 through 21, discussed below, and the various embodiments used todescribe the principles of the present disclosure in this patentdocument are by way of illustration only and should not be construed inany way to limit the scope of the disclosure. Those skilled in the artwill understand that the principles of the present disclosure may beimplemented in any suitably arranged device. Hereinafter, the presentdisclosure will be described with reference to the accompanyingdrawings. The present disclosure may have various embodiments, andmodifications and changes may be made therein. Therefore, the presentdisclosure will be described in conjunction with particular embodimentsshown in the accompanying drawings. However, it should be understoodthat there is no intent to limit the present disclosure to theparticular forms disclosed herein; rather, the present disclosure shouldbe construed to cover various modifications, equivalents, and/oralternatives of embodiments of the present disclosure. In describing thedrawings, similar reference numerals may be used to designate similarconstituent elements.

In the present disclosure, the expression “include” or “may include”refers to existence of a corresponding function, operation, or element,and does not limit one or more additional functions, operations, orelements. In the present disclosure, the terms such as “include” and/or“have” may be construed to denote a certain characteristic, number,step, operation, constituent element, element or a combination thereof,but may not be construed to exclude the existence of or a possibility ofaddition of one or more other characteristics, numbers, steps,operations, constituent elements, elements or combinations thereof.

In the present disclosure, the expression “A or B”, “at least one of Aor/and B”, or “one or more of A or/and B” may include all possiblecombinations of the items listed. For example, the expression “A or B”,“at least one of A and B”, or “at least one of A or B” may include (1)at least one A, (2) at least one B, or (3) both at least one A and atleast one B.

The expression “a first”, “a second”, “the first”, or “the second” usedin various embodiments of the present disclosure may modify variouscomponents regardless of the order and/or the importance but does notlimit the corresponding components. The above expressions are usedmerely for the purpose of distinguishing an element from the otherelements. For example, a first user device and a second user deviceindicate different user devices although both of them are user devices.For example, a first element may be termed a second element, andsimilarly, a second element may be termed a first element withoutdeparting from the scope of the present disclosure.

When it is mentioned that one element (e.g., a first element) is“(operatively or communicatively) coupled with/to or connected to”another element (e.g., a second element), it should be construed thatthe one element is directly connected to the another element or the oneelement is indirectly connected to the another element via yet anotherelement (e.g., a third element). In contrast, it may be understood thatwhen an element (e.g., first element) is referred to as being “directlyconnected,” or “directly coupled” to another element (second element),there are no element (e.g., third element) interposed between them.

As used herein, the expression “configured to” may be interchangeablyused with the expression “suitable for”, “having the capability to”,“designed to”, “adapted to”, “made to”, or “capable of”. The term“configured to” may not necessarily imply “specifically designed to” inhardware. Alternatively, in some situations, the expression “deviceconfigured to” may mean that the device, together with other devices orcomponents, “is able to”. For example, the phrase “processor adapted (orconfigured) to perform A, B, and C” may mean a dedicated processor (e.g.embedded processor) only for performing the corresponding operations ora generic-purpose processor (e.g., central processing unit (CPU) orapplication processor (AP)) that can perform the correspondingoperations by executing one or more software programs stored in a memorydevice.

The terms used in the present disclosure are only used to describespecific embodiments, and are not intended to limit the presentdisclosure. As used herein, singular forms may include plural forms aswell unless the context clearly indicates otherwise.

Unless defined otherwise, all terms used herein, including technical andscientific terms, have the same meaning as those commonly understood bya person skilled in the art to which the present disclosure pertains.Such terms as those defined in a generally used dictionary may beinterpreted to have the meanings equal to the contextual meanings in therelevant field of art, and are not to be interpreted to have ideal orexcessively formal meanings unless clearly defined in the presentdisclosure. In some cases, even the term defined in the presentdisclosure should not be interpreted to exclude embodiments of thepresent disclosure.

An electronic device according to various embodiments of the presentdisclosure may be any device including at least one processor, and mayinclude a camera, a portable device, a mobile terminal, a communicationterminal, a portable communication terminal, a portable mobile terminal,and the like. For example, the electronic device may include at leastone of a smartphone, a tablet personal computer (PC), a mobile phone, avideo phone, an electronic book (e-book) reader, a desktop PC, a laptopPC, a netbook computer, a personal digital assistant (PDA), a portablemultimedia player (PMP), an MP3 player, a mobile medical appliance, acamera, and a wearable device (e.g., a head-mounted-device (HMD) such aselectronic glasses, electronic clothes, an electronic bracelet, anelectronic necklace, an electronic appcessory, electronic tattoos, or asmart watch).

According to some embodiments, the electronic device may be a smart homeappliance. The home appliance may include at least one of, for example,a television, a Digital Video Disk (DVD) player, an audio, arefrigerator, an air conditioner, a vacuum cleaner, an oven, a microwaveoven, a washing machine, an air cleaner, a set-top box, a homeautomation control panel, a security control panel, a TV box (e.g.,SAMSUNG HOMESYNC™, APPLE TV™, or GOOGLE TV™), a game console (e.g.,XBOX™ and PLAYSTATION™), an electronic dictionary, an electronic key, acamcorder, and an electronic photo frame.

According to another embodiment, the electronic device may include atleast one of various medical devices (e.g., various portable medicalmeasuring devices (a blood glucose monitoring device, a heart ratemonitoring device, a blood pressure measuring device, a body temperaturemeasuring device, etc.), a Magnetic Resonance Angiography (MRA), aMagnetic Resonance Imaging (MRI), a Computed Tomography (CT) machine,and an ultrasonic machine), a navigation device, a Global PositioningSystem (GPS) receiver, an Event Data Recorder (EDR), a Flight DataRecorder (FDR), a Vehicle Infotainment Devices, an electronic devicesfor a ship (e.g., a navigation device for a ship, and a gyro-compass),avionics, security devices, an automotive head unit, a robot for home orindustry, an automatic teller's machine (ATM) in banks, point of sales(POS) in a shop, or internet device of things (e.g., a light bulb,various sensors, electric or gas meter, a sprinkler device, a firealarm, a thermostat, a streetlamp, a toaster, a sporting goods, a hotwater tank, a heater, a boiler, etc.).

According to some embodiments, the electronic device may include atleast one of a part of furniture or a building/structure, an electronicboard, an electronic signature receiving device, a projector, andvarious kinds of measuring instruments (e.g., a water meter, an electricmeter, a gas meter, and a radio wave meter). The electronic deviceaccording to various embodiments of the present disclosure may be acombination of one or more of the aforementioned various devices. Theelectronic device according to some embodiments of the presentdisclosure may be a flexible device. Further, the electronic deviceaccording to an embodiment of the present disclosure is not limited tothe aforementioned devices, and may include a new electronic deviceaccording to the development of technology.

Hereinafter, an electronic device according to various embodiments ofthe present disclosure will be described with reference to theaccompanying drawings.

Hereinafter, in various embodiments of the present disclosure, it willbe described that a fingerprint is used to perform an operation ofdriving an electronic device or locking or unlocking at least onefunction of an application while the electronic device is locked. Invarious embodiments of the present disclosure, a fingerprint of the usermay be registered in advance before the electronic device performs alocking or unlocking operation using a fingerprint, and a device and anoperational procedure for registering a fingerprint in the electronicdevice will be described in detail with reference to the accompanyingdrawings.

FIG. 1 is a block diagram illustrating a configuration example of anelectronic device according to an embodiment of the present disclosure.

Referring to FIG. 1, according to various embodiments of the presentdisclosure, the electronic device 101 may include at least one of acontroller 110, an input unit 120, a storage unit 130, and a displayunit 140. According to some embodiments, the electronic device may omitat least one of the components or may additionally include othercomponents.

According to various embodiments of the present disclosure, thecontroller 110 of the electronic device may 101 process informationaccording to an operation of the electronic device and information (forexample, contents) according to execution of an application or afunction, and may perform a control to display information according toexecution of an application on an execution screen.

According to various embodiments of the present disclosure, thecontroller 100 may control an operation related to recognition of afingerprint and registration of a fingerprint, and may include afingerprint recognition processing unit 111 for processing an operationrelated to recognition of a fingerprint and a fingerprint registrationprocessing unit 113 for processing an operation related to registrationof a fingerprint.

According to various embodiments of the present disclosure, thecontroller 110 may perform a control to receive a fingerprint of theuser using at least one sensor (not illustrated) provided in theelectronic device 101 and to recognize a fingerprint input through thefingerprint recognition processing unit 111. At least one sensorprovided in the electronic device 101 may include at least one of afingerprint recognition sensor and a camera sensor, and may includevarious sensors capable of recognizing a fingerprint without limitation.

According to various embodiments of the present disclosure, thecontroller 110 may sequentially receive fingerprints of the user,generate information on a fingerprint registration progress situation inresponse to a plurality of input fingerprints, and display informationon the generated fingerprint registration progress situation. Accordingto various embodiments of the present disclosure, information on thefingerprint registration progress situation may be displayed on anexecution screen of the fingerprint recognition and fingerprintregistration function or application. The information on the fingerprintregistration progress situation may include at least one of display forminformation of the plurality of sequentially input fingerprints when thefingerprint registration is progressed (for example, at least one of auser fingerprint image, a gauge bar and a message), display attributeinformation (for example, at least one of shape, color, brightness,light and shade, contrast, chroma, size, width, height, area, density,margin, and transparency), and fingerprint registration process rateinformation. The information on the fingerprint registration progresssituation may be displayed according to display form information, forexample, a fingerprint image corresponding to the plurality of inputfingerprints, that is, a fingerprint image of the actual user.

According to various embodiments of the present disclosure, thecontroller 110 may set information on the fingerprint registrationprogress situation to display fingerprint images of the usersequentially and more clearly (for example, gradually densely, graduallybrightly, gradually clearly, or realistically) whenever the fingerprintimages of the user are displayed, by using display form information ordisplay attribute information. According to various embodiments of thepresent disclosure, the controller 110 may perform a control tosequentially distinguish ridges and valleys more clearly throughcontrast of the ridges and the valleys in sequentially input fingerprintareas when the ridges and the valleys are displayed.

According to various embodiments of the present disclosure, thecontroller 110 may set information on the fingerprint registrationprogress situation such that the registration progress rate of the inputfingerprint is displayed, for example, in the form of a gauge bar,sequentially whenever the user inputs a fingerprint.

According to various embodiments of the present disclosure, thecontroller 110 may set information on the fingerprint registrationprogress situation by using at least one of the display form informationand the display attribute information such that display attributes of anoverlapping fingerprint area of a fingerprint image corresponding to theinput fingerprint and a non-overlapping fingerprint area are differentfrom each other when displayed, sequentially whenever the user inputs afingerprint by using the display form information and the displayattribute information. According to various embodiments of the presentdisclosure, the controller 110 may perform a control to display thefingerprint areas of the sequentially displayed fingerprint images thatare recognized as overlapping each other gradually densely according tothe overlapping degree and may display an area that is recognized as notoverlapping, that is, a newly recognized fingerprint area blurredly.According to various embodiments of the present disclosure, thecontroller 110 may differently set display attributes of the overlappingfingerprint area according to the repetition degree of the overlappingfingerprint area. For example, the controller 110 may perform a controlto differently display colors (for example, a fingerprint area that isrecognized once is displayed by a black color, a fingerprint area thatis recognized twice is displayed by an orange color, and a fingerprintarea that is recognized three times is displayed by a red color)according to the degree by which the fingerprint area recognized asoverlapping overlaps. In addition, the controller 110 may perform acontrol to differently display a fingerprint area recognized asoverlapping and a newly recognized fingerprint area according to variousdisplay schemes.

According to various embodiments of the present disclosure, thecontroller 110 may display a guide message that guides a registrationprogress situation through a text or a voice sequentially whenever theuser inputs a fingerprint. According to various embodiments of thepresent disclosure, the controller 110 may perform a control to displaya guide message that guides a fingerprint registration progress ratetogether with a fingerprint image or a gauge bar generated incorrespondence to the input fingerprint, or separately.

At least some functions of the controller 110 illustrated in FIG. 1 maybe performed in a processor (for example, an application processor).

A more detailed operation of displaying information on the fingerprintregistration progress situation according to various embodiments of thepresent disclosure will be described with reference to the accompanyingdrawings.

According to various embodiments of the present disclosure, thecontroller 110 may guide a directionality for the following fingerprintinput by using feature points extracted from a plurality of sequentiallyinput fingerprints. According to various embodiments of the presentdisclosure, the controller 110 may extract at least one feature pointfrom the recognized fingerprint, and may guide a fingerprint inputdirection such that a fingerprint area at another location of the useris input with reference to the feature point. The controller 110 mayrecognize the input fingerprint according to the guided fingerprintinput direction if the user inputs a fingerprint again, and may identifythe location of the recognized fingerprint and guide the followingfingerprint input direction again according to the identified location.The controller 110 may stop the guidance of the fingerprint inputdirection when a set condition, for example, a fingerprint of the useris sufficiently secured or all locations of referenced feature pointsare identified in a determined direction. When the set condition issatisfied, the controller 110 may perform a control to stop theinputting of a fingerprint by the user, and to register a fingerprint ofthe user by using at least some of the plurality of input fingerprints.

According to various embodiments of the present disclosure, thecontroller 110 may perform a control to register a fingerprint of theuser by using some of the plurality of fingerprints processed in thefingerprint recognition processing unit 11. According to variousembodiments of the present disclosure, the controller 110 may synthesizeat least some of the plurality of processed fingerprints, and mayregister the synthetized fingerprint as a fingerprint of the user.According to various embodiments of the present disclosure, thecontroller 110 may select at least one of the plurality of processedfingerprints, which is clearly recognized, for example, which has a highrecognition rate, and may register the selected fingerprint as afingerprint of the user. According to various embodiments of the presentdisclosure, when the controller 110 processes the sequentially inputfingerprints such that they become gradually clearer (for example, someor all of the fingerprint images corresponding to the sequentiallyprocessed fingerprints are displayed gradually densely, brightly,clearly, or realistically), it may register the finally processedfingerprint as a fingerprint of the user.

According to various embodiments of the present disclosure, thecontroller 110 may register a fingerprint image within a predeterminedradius from the most overlapping fingerprint area of the synthesizedfingerprint image as a fingerprint of the user. If a progress situationfor registration of a fingerprint corresponds to a set condition, thecontroller 110 may perform a control to stop inputting a fingerprint ofthe user half-way without inputting a fingerprint by a predeterminednumber of times and register a fingerprint of the user by using at leastsome of the plurality of fingerprints input before. Here, the setcondition may include at least one of conditions on whether afingerprint area of all determined directions reaches an input, or afingerprint area corresponding to a determined area reaches an input ora value (for example, 100%) to which a fingerprint registration progressrate is set. According to various embodiments of the present disclosure,the controller 110 of the electronic device 101 may perform a control todisplay an initially recognized one of the plurality of sequentiallyinput fingerprints, may perform a control to change a display attributeof at least one fingerprint that is recognized after the initiallyrecognized fingerprint of the plurality of fingerprints, may perform acontrol to display the at least one fingerprint based on the changeddisplay attribute.

According to various embodiments of the present disclosure, thecontroller 110 of the electronic device 101 may further include anoperation execution unit (not illustrated) that executes an operation ofthe electronic device. The operation execution unit may perform acontrol to execute an operation in correspondence to an input of theuser or a detected input. According to various embodiments of thepresent disclosure, the operation execution unit may control the displayunit 140 such that the display unit 140 displays an execution screen, anapplication, or information according to execution of an operation, andmay control various operations (for example, at least one of generationof vibrations, output of sound source information through a speaker, andan operation related to a camera module) of the electronic device.

According to various embodiments of the present disclosure, thecontroller 110 of the electronic device 101 may be at least a part of aprocessor, and may include one or a combination of two of hardware,software, and firmware.

According to various embodiments of the present disclosure, thecontroller 110 of the electronic device 101 may include, as a partthereof in a hardware aspect, at least one processor including a centralprocessing unit (CPU) and a micro processing unit (MPU), a memory (forexample, a register and/or a random access memory (RAM)) in which atleast one memory loading data is loaded, and a bus through which atleast one data is input and output to and from the processor and thememory. The controller 110 may include a predetermined program routineor program data that are loaded from a predetermined recording medium toa memory and calculated by the processor to perform a function definedin the electronic device in a hardware scheme.

According to various embodiments of the present disclosure, the inputunit 120 of the electronic device 101 may deliver various pieces ofinformation including number and letter information input from the userand a signal input in relation to settings of various functions and afunction control of the electronic device to the controller 110. Theinput unit 120 may support a user input for executing an applicationthat supports a specific function. The input unit 120 may include a keyinput unit such as a keyboard or a keypad, a touch input unit such as atouch sensor or a touch pad, a sound source input unit, and at least oneof various sensors and cameras, and may include a gesture input unit. Inaddition, the input unit 120 may include an input unit in all forms thatis being developed or may be developed later. According to variousembodiments of the present disclosure, the input unit 120 may receiveinformation input by the user through a touch panel or a camera module(not illustrated) of the display unit 140, and may deliver the inputinformation to the controller 110

According to various embodiments of the present disclosure, the inputunit 120 may include a fingerprint input unit 121 that receives afingerprint of the user detected through at least one sensor provided inthe electronic device 101. The fingerprint input unit 121 of the inputunit 120 may receive a fingerprint from the user and may deliver theinput fingerprint to the controller 110. The at least one sensor may beat least one of a fingerprint recognition sensor and a camera sensor,but is not limited thereto and may include various sensors that maydetect a fingerprint. The input unit 120 may sequentially receive afingerprint of the user under the control of the controller 110.

According to various embodiments of the present disclosure, a storageunit 130 of the electronic unit 101 may temporarily store various datagenerated during execution of a program, including a program necessaryfor a functional operation according to various embodiments of thepresent disclosure. The storage unit 130 may largely include a programarea and a data area. The program area may store information related todriving of the electronic device, such as an operating system (OS) thatboots the electronic device. The data area may store transmitted andreceived data and generated data according to various embodiments of thepresent disclosure. The storage unit 130 may include at least onestorage medium of a flash memory, a hard disk, a multimedia card microtype memory (for example, an SD or XD memory), a RAM, and a ROM.

According to various embodiments of the present disclosure, the storageunit 130 of the electronic device 101 may store information related toan application for recognition of a fingerprint or registration of afingerprint, may store fingerprints input by the user when a fingerprintis registered, and may store result information according to processingof input fingerprints. The storage unit 130 may store at least one ofinformation on a plurality of recognition-processed fingerprints,fingerprint images generated in correspondence to the plurality ofprocessed fingerprints, information related to a fingerprintregistration progress situation by which a fingerprint registrationprogress situation may be identified, information related to a guidanceof a fingerprint registration direction, and a registered fingerprint.

According to various embodiments of the present disclosure, the displayunit 140 of the electronic device 101 may display operation executioninformation and operation execution result information according to anoperation control from the operation execution unit (not illustrated).The display unit 140 may display various pieces of information (at leastone of a text image, a video, and a sound source) to the user or mayoutput sound source information. The display unit 140 may display aninput window on a screen or an input pad (for example, a button) throughwhich at least one of various letters, numbers, and symbols may be inputto an input window. The display unit 140 may display a service executionscreen according to execution of various applications related totransmission and reception of information.

According to various embodiments of the present disclosure, the displayunit 140 of the electronic device 101 may display an execution screen ofan application that is executed for registration of a fingerprint, andmay display information on a fingerprint image and/or a fingerprintregistration progress situation corresponding to a user fingerprintinput through the input unit 120 on an execution screen of the executedapplication.

According to various embodiments of the present disclosure, the displayunit 140 may display a fingerprint image corresponding to an inputfingerprint whenever the controller 110 receives a fingerprint of theuser, and may sequentially display the displayed fingerprint images moreclearly (for example, gradually densely, gradually brightly, graduallyclearly, or gradually realistically). According to various embodimentsof the present disclosure, the display unit 140 may display afingerprint image or information on a registration progress situationaccording to at least one of the display form information and displayattribute information under the control of the controller 110. Thedisplay unit 140 may display a gauge bar according to a registrationprogress rate of an input fingerprint, sequentially whenever the userinputs a fingerprint.

According to various embodiments of the present disclosure, the displayunit 140 may differently display an overlapping fingerprint area and anon-overlapping fingerprint area of the processed fingerprintsequentially whenever the user inputs a fingerprint by making displayattributes (for example, at least one of shape, color, brightness, lightand shade, contrast, chroma, size, width, height, area, density, margin,and transparency) different under the control of the controller 110.According to various embodiments of the present disclosure, the displayunit 140 may display the fingerprint areas of the sequentially displayedfingerprint images that are recognized as overlapping each othergradually densely according to the overlapping degree and may display anarea that is recognized as not overlapping, that is, a newly recognizedfingerprint area blurredly under the control of the controller 110.According to various embodiments of the present disclosure, the displayunit 140 may differently display colors (for example, a fingerprint areathat is recognized once is displayed by a black color, a fingerprintarea that is recognized twice is displayed by an orange color, and afingerprint area that is recognized three times is displayed by a redcolor) according to the degree by which the area recognized asoverlapping overlaps under the control of the controller 110. Inaddition, the display unit 140 may differently display a fingerprintarea recognized as overlapping and a newly recognized fingerprint areaaccording to various display schemes under the control of the controller110. According to various embodiments of the present disclosure, thedisplay unit 140 may display or provide, as a sound source, a guidemessage that guides a registration progress situation through a text ora voice sequentially whenever the user inputs fingerprints under thecontrol of the controller 110. According to various embodiments of thepresent disclosure, the controller 110 may display a guide message thatguides a fingerprint registration progress rate together with afingerprint image or a gauge bar generated in correspondence to theinput fingerprint, or separately.

According to various embodiments of the present disclosure, when thedisplay unit 140 of the electronic device 101 is implemented in the formof a touch screen, the input unit 120 and/or the display unit 140 maycorrespond to a touch screen. When the display unit 140 is implementedtogether with the input unit 120 in the form of a touch screen, variouspieces of information generated according to a touch operation of theuser may be displayed.

According to various embodiments of the present disclosure, the displayunit 140 of the electronic device 101 may include at least one of aLiquid Crystal Display (LCD), a Thin Film Transistor LCD (TFT-LCD), anOrganic Light Emitting Diode (OLED), a Light Emitting Diode (LED), anActive Matrix Organic LED (AMOLED), a flexible display, and a3-dimensional display. Some of the displays may be implemented in atransparent type or a light transmission type such that the outside canbe seen therethrough. This may be configured in the form of atransparent display including a Transparent OLED (TOLED).

Locations of the main components of the electronic device 101illustrated in FIG. 1 may be changed according to various embodiments ofthe present disclosure.

In this way, the main components of the electronic device have beendescribed through the electronic device 101 of FIG. 1. However, not allof the components illustrated through FIG. 1 are essential, and theelectronic device may be implemented by a larger number of componentsthan the illustrated components, or may be implemented by a smallernumber of components. For example, the electronic device may furtherinclude a sound source output unit (for example, a speaker) (notillustrated) that converts a sound source that is an electrical signalto an analog signal to output the analog signal.

For example, when the electronic device communicates with anotherelectronic device or an external device, it may further include acommunication unit (not illustrated). According to various embodimentsof the present disclosure, the communication unit may transmit andreceive information related to registration of a fingerprint under thecontrol of the controller 110. For example, the communication unit mayreceive an application that executes registration of a fingerprint froma server (not illustrated). According to various embodiments of thepresent disclosure, when the server performs at least some functions forprocessing recognition of a fingerprint or registration of a fingerprintof the controller 110, the communication unit may receive or transmitinformation related to a function of processing recognition of afingerprint or registration of a fingerprint to or from the serverthrough the at least some functions. According to various embodiments ofthe present disclosure, when the server or another electronic devicemanages the registered fingerprint of the user, the communication unitmay transmit and receive information related thereto.

The communication unit may communicate through connection to a networkor inter-device connection through wireless or wired communication via acommunication interface. The wireless communication may include at leastone of, for example, Wi-Fi, BLUETOOTH (BT), Near Field Communication(NFC), Global Positioning System (GPS) and cellular communication (forexample, LTE, LTE-A, CDMA, WCDMA, UMTS, WiBro, GSM or the like). Thewired communication may include at least one of, for example, aUniversal Serial Bus (USB), a High Definition Multimedia Interface(HDMI), Recommended Standard 232 (RS-232), and a Plain Old TelephoneService (POTS). Further, the communication unit may include all forms ofcommunication schemes that have been widely known or will be developedlater in addition to the above-mentioned communication schemes.

An electronic device according to any one of various embodiments of thepresent disclosure includes: a fingerprint input unit that sequentiallyreceives a fingerprint of a user sensed by at least one sensor, adisplay unit, when the fingerprint of the user is received, thatdisplays the received fingerprint, and a controller configured tocontrol the display unit to display an initially received fingerprint,change a display attribute of at least one fingerprint of the user thatis sequentially received after the initially received fingerprint of theuser, control the display unit to display the at least one fingerprintof the user according to the changed display attribute, and register afinal fingerprint generated using at least one of the plurality ofsequentially received fingerprints.

According to various embodiments of the present disclosure, thecontroller performs a control the display unit to display fingerprintimages generated in correspondence to the plurality of sequentiallyinput fingerprints sequentially densely according to a informationrelating to fingerprint registration progress situation.

According to various embodiments of the present disclosure, thecontroller performs a control to change the display attribute to displaya fingerprint shape of a currently received fingerprint of the user moredensely than a fingerprint shape of a previously received fingerprint ofthe user.

According to various embodiments of the present disclosure, thecontroller performs a control to change the display attribute to displaya fingerprint shape of a currently received fingerprint more brightly orclearly than a fingerprint shape of a previously received fingerprint ofthe user.

According to various embodiments of the present disclosure, thecontroller performs a control to incorporate the generated imagessequentially displayed and to register the incorporated fingerprintimage as the final fingerprint of the user.

According to various embodiments of the present disclosure, thecontroller performs a control to display fingerprint registrationprogress rates based on information relating to the fingerprintregistration progress situation whenever fingerprint of the user isreceived.

According to various embodiments of the present disclosure, if thefingerprint registration progress situation corresponds to a setcondition, the controller performs a control to stop inputting the userfingerprint and to register the user fingerprint by using at least oneof the plurality of previously received fingerprints.

According to various embodiments of the present disclosure, thecontroller performs a control to display a fingerprint imagecorresponding to the fingerprint together with fingerprint registrationprogress rates based on information on the fingerprint registrationprogress situation whenever fingerprints of the user are received.

According to various embodiments of the present disclosure, thecontroller performs a control to compare the plurality of sequentiallyreceived fingerprints to identify an overlapping fingerprint area and anon-overlapping fingerprint area of a currently received fingerprint, todifferently set display attributes of the overlapping fingerprint areaand the non-overlapping fingerprint area, and to display the currentlyreceived fingerprint according to the set display attributes.

According to various embodiments of the present disclosure, thecontroller differently sets the display attribute of the overlappingfingerprint area according to an overlapping degree of the overlappingfingerprint area.

According to various embodiments of the present disclosure, thecontroller synthesizes fingerprint images generated in correspondence tothe plurality of sequentially received fingerprints, and registers thefinal fingerprint based on fingerprint image within a predeterminedradius from the most overlapping fingerprint area on the synthesizedfingerprint image.

According to various embodiments of the present disclosure, theinformation on the fingerprint registration progress situation includesat least one of display form information, display attribute information,and fingerprint registration progress rate information of the pluralityof sequentially received fingerprints.

According to various embodiments of the present disclosure, thecontroller performs a control to conduct a guide for the nextfingerprint received based on information relating to the fingerprintregistration progress situation.

According to various embodiments of the present disclosure, thecontroller performs a control to identify a location of a referencefeature point detected from the currently received fingerprint of theuser and to guide a fingerprint input direction for the next fingerprintinput according to the identified location.

According to various embodiments of the present disclosure, thecontroller performs a control to set a central area of the currentlyreceived fingerprint of the user as a reference area and to guide afingerprint input direction for the next fingerprint input based on thereference area.

According to various embodiments of the present disclosure, thecontroller performs a control to set a fingerprint area, which will beregistered, based on a distribution of a plurality of feature pointsdetected from the plurality of sequentially received fingerprints and toregister the fingerprint of the user containing the set fingerprintarea.

FIG. 2 is a flowchart illustrating an operation procedure of anelectronic device according to various embodiments of the presentdisclosure. FIG. 3 is a diagram illustrating a fingerprint registrationscreen of an electronic device according to various embodiments of thepresent disclosure.

Referring to FIGS. 2 and 3, according to an embodiment of the presentdisclosure, in operation 201, if the user inputs 301 a fingerprint inone area of an electronic device as illustrated in FIG. 3, theelectronic device (for example, the electronic device 101 of FIG. 1) mayreceive a fingerprint of the user that is detected through at least onesensor located in the one area.

In operation 203, the electronic device may temporarily store the inputfingerprint, and may process recognition of a fingerprint for thetemporarily stored fingerprint. Operations 201 and 203 may be repeatedaccording to a fingerprint registration progress situation. According tovarious embodiments, the electronic device may extract directionalcomponent data of a fingerprint shape by analyzing the inputfingerprint, and may recognize the input fingerprint by binarizing andclassifying the extracted directional component data. As illustrated inFIG. 3, the electronic device may generate a fingerprint image 303corresponding to the recognized fingerprint. According to variousembodiments of the present disclosure, the electronic device may displaythe generated fingerprint image 303. According to various embodiments ofthe present disclosure, the electronic device may synthesize at leastone previously generated fingerprint image and the currently generatedimage such that the recognized fingerprint may be viewed more clearlywhenever the user inputs a fingerprint.

In operation 205, the electronic device may generate information on afingerprint registration progress situation in correspondence to aplurality of sequentially input fingerprints, and may displayinformation on the fingerprint registration progress situation invarious schemes to inform the user of the generated fingerprintregistration progress situation. According to various embodiments of thepresent disclosure, the electronic device may identify a fingerprintregistration progress situation of the sequentially input and recognizedfingerprint, and may display information on the identified fingerprintregistration progress situation on an execution screen for registrationof a fingerprint. The information on the fingerprint registrationprogress situation may be displayed by using a fingerprint imagecorresponding to the plurality of input fingerprints, that is, afingerprint image of the actual user, and may include at least one ofdisplay form information of the plurality of fingerprints sequentiallyinput (for example, at least one of a user fingerprint image, a gaugebar and a message), display attribute information (for example, at leastone of shape, color, brightness, light and shade, contrast, chroma,size, width, height, area, density, margin, and transparency), andfingerprint registration progress rate information.

According to various embodiments of the present disclosure, theelectronic device may display the initially recognized fingerprint ofthe plurality of sequentially input fingerprints, and may change adisplay attribute of the fingerprint that is displayed according to thenumber of the plurality of fingerprints that are recognized after theinitially recognized fingerprint. According to various embodiments ofthe present disclosure, the electronic device may set information on thefingerprint registration progress situation by using display forminformation or display attribute information such that the displayedfingerprint image may be displayed sequentially densely whenever thefingerprint image of the user is displayed. That is, the electronicdevice may change the display attribute of the currently recognizedfingerprint and may display the fingerprint image corresponding to thecurrently recognized fingerprint more densely than the fingerprint imagecorresponding to the previously recognized fingerprint.

According to various embodiments of the present disclosure, theelectronic device may set information on the fingerprint registrationprogress situation such that a gauge bar according to the fingerprintregistration progress rate may be displayed by using at least one of thedisplay form information and the display attribute informationsequentially whenever the user inputs fingerprints. Furthermore,according to various embodiments of the present disclosure, theelectronic device may set information on the fingerprint registrationprogress situation such that display attributes (for example, light andshade or color) of an overlapping fingerprint area of a fingerprintimage corresponding to the input fingerprint and a non-overlappingfingerprint area are different from each other when displayed,sequentially whenever the user inputs fingerprints by using at least oneof the display form information and the display attribute information.

According to various embodiments of the present disclosure, theelectronic device may perform a control to display the repeatedlyrecognized fingerprint areas of the sequentially displayed fingerprintimages gradually densely, gradually brightly, or gradually clearlyaccording to the overlapping degree and to display an area that is notrepeatedly recognized, that is, a newly recognized fingerprint areablurredly. According to various embodiments of the present disclosure,the controller 110 may differently display colors (for example, afingerprint area that is recognized once is displayed by a black color,a fingerprint area that is recognized twice is displayed by an orangecolor, and a fingerprint area that is recognized three times isdisplayed by a red color) according to the degree by which the arearecognized as overlapping overlaps. In addition, the controller 110 maydifferently display a repeatedly recognized fingerprint area and a newlyrecognized fingerprint area according to various display schemes.

According to various embodiments of the present disclosure, theelectronic device may set information on the fingerprint registrationprogress situation such that a guide message that guides a registrationprogress situation may be displayed through a text or a voice,sequentially whenever the user inputs a fingerprint. According tovarious embodiments of the present disclosure, the electronic device maydisplay a guide message that guides a fingerprint registration progressrate together with a fingerprint image or a gauge bar generated incorrespondence to the input fingerprint, or separately.

In operation 207, the electronic device may register fingerprints of theuser by using at least some of the plurality of fingerprints. Accordingto various embodiments of the present disclosure, the electronic devicemay synthesize at least some of the plurality of processed fingerprints,and may register the synthetized fingerprint as a fingerprint of theuser. According to various embodiments of the present disclosure, theelectronic device may select at least one of the plurality of processedfingerprints, which is clearly recognized, for example, which has a highrecognition rate, and may register the selected fingerprint as afingerprint of the user. Furthermore, according to various embodimentsof the present disclosure, when the electronic device processes thesequentially input fingerprints such that they become gradually clearer(for example, the fingerprint images corresponding to the sequentiallyprocessed fingerprints are displayed gradually densely, brightly,clearly, or realistically), it may register the finally processedfingerprint as a fingerprint of the user.

A method of registering a fingerprint in an electronic device accordingto any one of various embodiments of the present disclosure includes:displaying information of an initially received fingerprint of a user,changing a display attribute of at least one fingerprint of the userthat is sequentially received after the initially received fingerprintof the user, displaying the at least one fingerprint of the useraccording to the changed display attribute and registering a finalfingerprint generated using at least one of the plurality ofsequentially received fingerprints.

According to various embodiments of the present disclosure, thedisplaying of information relating to a fingerprint registrationprogress situation includes displaying fingerprint images generated incorrespondence to the plurality of sequentially received fingerprintssequentially densely according to the fingerprint registration progresssituation information.

According to various embodiments of the present disclosure, the displayattribute of at least one fingerprint of the user is changed todisplaying a fingerprint shape of a currently received fingerprint ofthe user more densely than a fingerprint shape of a previously receivedfingerprint of the user.

According to various embodiments of the present disclosure, the displayattribute of at least one fingerprint of the user is changed to displaya fingerprint shape of a currently received fingerprint more brightly orclearly than a fingerprint shape of a previously received fingerprint.

According to various embodiments of the present disclosure, thedisplaying of the information on the fingerprint registration progresssituation includes: identifying fingerprint registration progress ratesbased on information relating to the fingerprint registration progresssituation whenever fingerprints of the user are input; and displayingthe identified fingerprint registration progress rate.

According to various embodiments of the present disclosure, thedisplaying of the information on the fingerprint registration progresssituation includes displaying a fingerprint image corresponding to theinput fingerprint together with fingerprint registration progress ratesbased on information relating to the fingerprint registration progresssituation whenever fingerprint of the user is received.

According to various embodiments of the present disclosure, changing adisplay attribute of the at least one fingerprint of the user includes:comparing the plurality of sequentially received fingerprints,identifying an overlapping fingerprint area and a non-overlappingfingerprint area of a currently received fingerprint according to aresult the comparison, and differently setting display attributes of theoverlapping fingerprint area and the non-overlapping fingerprint area.

According to various embodiments of the present disclosure, hanging adisplay attribute of the at least one fingerprint of the user furtherincludes differently setting the display attribute of the overlappingfingerprint area according to an overlapping degree of the overlappingfingerprint area.

According to various embodiments of the present disclosure, registeringthe final fingerprint generated using the at least one of the pluralityof sequentially received fingerprints includes: synthesizing thegenerated fingerprint images in correspondence to the plurality ofsequentially received fingerprints, and registering the finalfingerprint base on a fingerprint image within a predetermined radiusfrom the most overlapping fingerprint area on the synthesizedfingerprint image.

According to various embodiments of the present disclosure, theregistering the final fingerprint generated using the at least one ofthe plurality of sequentially received fingerprints includes: setting afingerprint area, which is to registered, based on a distribution of aplurality of feature points detected from the plurality of sequentiallyinput fingerprints, and registering the final fingerprint of the usercontaining the set fingerprint area.

According to various embodiments of the present disclosure, theinformation on the fingerprint registration progress situation includesat least one of display form information, display attribute information,and fingerprint registration progress rate information of the pluralityof sequentially received fingerprints.

According to various embodiments of the present disclosure, the methodfurther includes: guiding a fingerprint input direction for the nextfingerprint input based on information relating to the fingerprintregistration progress situation.

According to various embodiments of the present disclosure, the guidingof the fingerprint input direction includes: identifying a location of areference feature point detected from the previously receivedfingerprint of the user from the currently received fingerprint of theuser; and guiding a fingerprint input direction for the next fingerprintinput according to the identified location.

According to various embodiments of the present disclosure, the guidingof the fingerprint input direction includes: setting a central area ofthe currently received fingerprint of the user as a reference area; andguiding a fingerprint input direction for the next fingerprint inputbased on the reference area.

Hereinafter, various embodiments of the present disclosure will bedescribed in detail with reference to the accompanying drawings based ona configuration and an operation of the above-described electronicdevice.

FIG. 4 is a flowchart illustrating an operation procedure of anelectronic device according to various embodiments of the presentdisclosure. FIG. 5 is a diagram illustrating fingerprint recognition inan electronic device according to various embodiments of the presentdisclosure.

Referring to FIGS. 4 and 5, according to an embodiment of the presentdisclosure, in operation 401, if the user inputs a fingerprint in onearea of an electronic device, the electronic device (for example, theelectronic device 101 of FIG. 1) may receive a fingerprint of the userthat is detected through at least one sensor located in the one area.

According to various embodiments of the present disclosure, in thefollowing operations, the electronic device may temporarily store adetected fingerprint, that is, an input fingerprint, and may processrecognition of a fingerprint for the temporarily stored fingerprint. Inoperation 403, as illustrated in FIG. 5, the electronic device mayextract directional component information 501 of the fingerprint shapein the recognized fingerprint.

In operation 405, as illustrated in FIG. 5, the electronic device maybinarize 503 the extracted directional component information, and maydetect a fingerprint corresponding to the directional componentinformation, that is, may recognize the input fingerprint by classifying505 the binarized fingerprint shape.

In operation 407, the electronic device may generate a fingerprint imagecorresponding to the recognized fingerprint and information on thefingerprint registration progress situation. According to variousembodiments of the present disclosure, the electronic device maysynthesize at least one previously generated fingerprint image and thecurrently generated image so that the recognized fingerprint may beviewed more clearly whenever the user inputs a fingerprint. Theinformation on the fingerprint registration progress situation may bedisplayed by using a fingerprint image corresponding to the plurality ofinput fingerprints, that is, a fingerprint image of the actual user, andmay include at least one of display form information of the plurality offingerprints sequentially input (for example, at least one of a userfingerprint image, a gauge bar and a message), display attributeinformation (for example, at least one of shape, color, brightness,light and shade, contrast, size, width, height, area, density, margin,and transparency), and fingerprint registration progress rateinformation.

In operation 409, the electronic device may display information on thefingerprint registration progress situation in various schemes to informthe user of the generated fingerprint registration progress situation.Furthermore, the electronic device may display the generated fingerprintimage according to the information on the fingerprint registrationprogress situation.

In operation 411, the electronic device may identify whether thefingerprint of the user is to be registered by using the recognizedfingerprint, considering information on the generated fingerprintregistration progress situation. In the identification result, when thefingerprint of the user is not registered by using the currentlyrecognized fingerprint, the electronic device may repeatedly processrecognition of a fingerprint for a fingerprint input next by performingoperations 401 to 409 again. The fingerprint recognition processingoperation may be repeated until the set condition is satisfied.

In operation 413, according to the result identified in operation 411,the electronic device may register a fingerprint of the user by usingthe currently recognized fingerprint and at least some of the pluralityof fingerprints that have been recognized until now. According tovarious embodiments of the present disclosure, the electronic device maysynthesize at least some of the plurality of processed fingerprints, andmay register the synthetized fingerprint as a fingerprint of the user.According to various embodiments of the present disclosure, theelectronic device may select at least one of the plurality of processedfingerprints, which is clearly recognized, for example, which has a highrecognition rate, and may register the selected fingerprint as afingerprint of the user. Furthermore, according to various embodimentsof the present disclosure, when the electronic device processes thesequentially input fingerprints such that they become gradually clearer(for example, the fingerprint images corresponding to the sequentiallyprocessed fingerprints are displayed gradually densely, brightly,clearly, or realistically), the electronic device may register thefinally processed fingerprint as a fingerprint of the user.

FIGS. 6A, 6B, 6C, 6D and 6E illustrate a fingerprint registration screenof an electronic device according to various embodiments of the presentdisclosure.

Referring to FIG. 6, according to various embodiments of the presentdisclosure, the electronic device (for example, the electronic device101 of FIG. 1) may repeat an operation of inputting and recognizing afingerprint by a predetermined number of times (for example, 5 times).According to various embodiments of the present disclosure, the numberof times may be changed according to the fingerprint registrationprogress situation. For example, when a fingerprint is recognizedclearly enough to register the fingerprint only with the currentlyrecognized fingerprints or feature points corresponding to the numberthat is necessary for registration or more of a fingerprint areextracted based on the information on the fingerprint registrationprogress situation, the number of inputs of the fingerprint forrecognition of the fingerprint may be changed. That is, when afingerprint is recognized clearly enough to register the fingerprintonly with the currently recognized fingerprints or feature pointscorresponding to the number that is necessary for registration or moreof a fingerprint are extracted, the electronic device may register afingerprint by using at least some of the plurality of fingerprints thathave been recognized so far after input of a fingerprint of the user isstopped.

Referring back to FIG. 6, according to various embodiments of thepresent disclosure, the electronic device may sequentially displayfingerprint images 601, 603, 605, 607 and 609 on an execution screenaccording to the operations as it repeats the operation of inputting afingerprint and processing recognition of the fingerprint (FIGS. 6A to6E). The electronic device may display the fingerprint images 601, 603,605, 607 and 609 that are sequentially displayed whenever thefingerprint of the user is input such that the fingerprint images 601,603, 605, 607 and 609 may become gradually dense by adjusting a displayattribute of the image (for example, at least one of brightness, lightand shade, chroma, contrast, and color). For example, a fingerprint ofthe user input first, that is, the fingerprint image 601 correspondingto a fingerprint shape is displayed blurredly, and the fingerprintimages 603, 605, 607, and 609 corresponding to the fingerprints inputlater may be displayed sequentially densely. For example, thefingerprint image 601 corresponding to the fingerprint of the user inputfirst may be displayed in the brightest color among the fingerprintimages 603, 605, 607 and 609, and the fingerprint images may becomedarker sequentially so that the fingerprint image 609 corresponding tothe fingerprint of the user input finally may be displayed at thedarkest color among the fingerprint images 601, 603, 605, and 607.

According to various embodiments of the present disclosure, thefingerprint images 601, 603, 605, 607, and 609 may be displayed togetherwith at least one piece of display form information of the gauge bar andthe guide message.

FIGS. 7A, 7B, 7C, 7D and 7E illustrate a fingerprint registration screenof an electronic device according to various embodiments of the presentdisclosure.

Referring to FIG. 7, according to various embodiments of the presentdisclosure, the electronic device (for example, the electronic device101 of FIG. 1) may display the gauge bars 701, 703, 705, 707, and 709according to the fingerprint registration progress rate, sequentiallywhenever the user inputs a fingerprint by using information on thefingerprint registration progress situation. The electronic device mayidentify a fingerprint registration progress rate contained in theinformation on the fingerprint registration progress situation accordingto a clearness of the plurality of input fingerprints, the areas of therecognized fingerprints, and the number of feature points that aredetected from the recognized fingerprints, and may display theidentified registration progress rates on the gauge bars 701, 703, 705,707 and 709.

According to various embodiments of the present disclosure, theelectronic device may set information on the fingerprint registrationprogress situation such that the fingerprint registration progress ratedisplayed on the gauge bar may not be increased in proportion to thenumber of fingerprint inputs of the user.

FIGS. 8A, 8B, 8C, 8D, 8E, 9, and 10 are diagrams illustrating afingerprint registration screen of an electronic device according tovarious embodiments of the present disclosure.

Referring to FIG. 8, according to various embodiments of the presentdisclosure, the electronic device (for example, the electronic device101 of FIG. 1) may display the gauge bars 803, 805, 807, 809, and 811together with at least one piece of display form information of at leastone fingerprint image 801 generated whenever the user inputs afingerprint, the fingerprint images 601, 603, 605, 607, and 609 of FIG.6, and a guide message.

Referring to FIGS. 9 and 10, according to various embodiments of thepresent disclosure, the electronic device (for example, the electronicdevice 101 of FIG. 1) may display at least one fingerprint image 901 or1001 generated whenever the user inputs a fingerprint together with aguide message 903 or 1003. According to various embodiments of thepresent disclosure, for example, the electronic device may display atleast one of the number of inputs and a fingerprint registrationprogress rate in at least one guide message 903 or 1003 of a text and asound source.

FIGS. 11A, 11B, 11C, 11D and 12 are diagrams illustrating a fingerprintregistration screen of an electronic device according to variousembodiments of the present disclosure.

Referring to FIG. 11, according to various embodiments of the presentdisclosure, the electronic device (for example, the electronic device101 of FIG. 1) may set display attributes (for example, light and shade,brightness, and color) of an overlapping fingerprint area and anon-overlapping fingerprint area in a fingerprint image generated incorrespondence to an input fingerprint 1101 differently and may displayfingerprint images 1103, 1104, 1105, and 1106, sequentially whenever theuser inputs a fingerprint, by using information on the fingerprintregistration progress situation.

According to various embodiments of the present disclosure, theelectronic device may compare a fingerprint image 1103 corresponding toan initially input fingerprint and a fingerprint image corresponding tothe next input fingerprint to identify an overlapping fingerprint area,and may display the overlapping fingerprint area, for example, thedensely set fingerprint image 1104. The electronic device compares afingerprint image corresponding to a fingerprint that is repeatedlyinput next and the previous fingerprint image to display a fingerprintimage 1105 in which the overlapping fingerprint area is set more clearly(for example, more densely, more brightly, more distinctly, or morerealistically).

According to various embodiments of the present disclosure, theelectronic device may display the repeatedly recognized fingerprintareas of the sequentially displayed fingerprint images more clearly (forexample, gradually densely, gradually brightly, gradually distinctly, orgradually realistically) according to the overlapping degree and todisplay an area that is not repeatedly recognized, that is, a newlyrecognized fingerprint area blurredly. According to various embodimentsof the present disclosure, the electronic device may differently displaycolors (for example, a fingerprint area that is recognized once isdisplayed by a black color, a fingerprint area that is recognized twiceis displayed by an orange color, and a fingerprint area that isrecognized three times is displayed by a red color) according to thedegree by which the area recognized as overlapping overlaps. Inaddition, the electronic device may differently display a repeatedlyrecognized fingerprint area and a newly recognized fingerprint areaaccording to various display schemes.

According to various embodiments of the present disclosure, theelectronic device may synthesize at least some of fingerprint imagescorresponding to the plurality of recognized fingerprints, and mayregister a fingerprint image within a predetermined radius from the mostoverlapping fingerprint area in the synthesized fingerprint image as afingerprint of the user.

Referring to FIG. 12, according to various embodiments of the presentdisclosure, the electronic device (for example, the electronic device101 of FIG. 1) may generate a final fingerprint image 1201 correspondingto a fingerprint of the user that is to be registered, by synthesizingfingerprint images that are set according to information on thefingerprint registration progress situation of FIG. 11. According tovarious embodiments of the present disclosure, the electronic device mayarrange the most overlapping fingerprint area (for example, afingerprint area having the densest color) at the center of the displayarea to generate the final fingerprint image.

FIG. 13 is a flowchart illustrating an operation procedure of anelectronic device according to various embodiments of the presentdisclosure.

Referring to FIG. 13, according to various embodiments of the presentdisclosure, in operation 1301, if the user inputs a fingerprint in onearea of an electronic device, the electronic device (for example, theelectronic device 101 of FIG. 1) may receive a fingerprint of the userthat is detected through at least one sensor located in the one area.

In operation 1303, the electronic device may temporarily store thedetected fingerprint, that is, the input fingerprint, and may processrecognition of a fingerprint for the temporarily stored fingerprint.Operation 1303 may be applied in the same manner as operations 403 to407 of FIG. 4, and accordingly, a detailed description thereof will beomitted.

In operation 1305, the electronic device may detect at least one featurepoint of the recognized fingerprint. According to various embodiments ofthe present disclosure, the electronic device may detect the shape of acentral area of a fingerprint in the recognized fingerprint as a featurepoint or may detect the shape showing a unique quality as a featurepoint by analyzing the shape of the recognized fingerprint.

In operation 1307, the electronic device may generate information(hereinafter, referred to as information on a fingerprint inputdirection) related to guide a fingerprint input direction by using atleast one detected feature point.

In operation 1309, the electronic device may guide an input direction ofa fingerprint that is to be input next by using information on thegenerated fingerprint input direction.

FIGS. 14A, 14B, 14C, 14D and 14E illustrate a fingerprint registrationscreen of an electronic device according to various embodiments of thepresent disclosure.

Referring to FIG. 14, the electronic device (for example, the electronicdevice 101 of FIG. 1) according to various embodiments of the presentdisclosure may detect a fingerprint shape of the central area as afeature point 1405 in the fingerprint input first, for example, asillustrated in FIG. 14A, as the user inputs 1401 a fingerprint. Theelectronic device may detect the shape of the central area in the nextinput fingerprint as a feature point 1407, and may identify a locationof the feature point 1405 that is detected before with respect to thedetected feature point 1407. In the identification result, when thelocation of the previously detected feature point 1405 is located in alower-left area (for example, a fourth area) as illustrated in FIG. 14B,the electronic device may further recognize a right fingerprint area ofa finger of the actual user and may guide the fingerprint inputdirection to the left side 1421 to further recognize a left fingerprintarea.

The electronic device may detect a feature point 1409 in the fingerprintinput again, and may identify a location of the feature point 1405 or1407 that is detected before with respect to the detected feature point1409. In the identification result, when the location of at least onefeature point 1405 or 1407 detected previously is located in a rightarea (for example, a second or third area) as illustrated in FIG. 14C, afingerprint area of the left side of the finger of the actual user maybe further recognized, and at least one of an upper-right direction 1422or an upper direction may be guided as the fingerprint input directionto further recognize at least one fingerprint area of a right area andan upper area. In the same operations as those of FIGS. 14A, 14B, and14C, the electronic device may further detect at least one feature point1411 or 1413 as in at least one of FIGS. 14D and 14E, and the nextfingerprint input direction (for example, a left lower direction 1423)may be guided with respect to the at least one detected feature point1411 or 1413.

FIG. 15 is a diagram illustrating a fingerprint registration screen ofan electronic device according to various embodiments of the presentdisclosure.

Referring to FIG. 15, according to various embodiments of the presentdisclosure, the electronic device (for example, the electronic device101 of FIG. 1) may set a fingerprint image 1501 including the detectedfeature points 1503, 1505, 1507, 1509, and 1511 and may display thefingerprint image 1501 on an execution screen according to the operationdescribed in FIG. 14. According to various embodiments of the presentdisclosure, the electronic device may identify feature points includedin the fingerprint image based on a fingerprint image (for example, thefingerprint image 1403 of FIG. 14E) corresponding to the finally inputfingerprint and set a fingerprint area that is to be registered based ona distribution of the feature points, and may register a fingerprint ofthe user including the set fingerprint area. According to variousembodiments of the present disclosure, the electronic device may arrangea feature point (for example, the feature point 1507) located at thecenter of a set area to generate a final fingerprint image 1501corresponding to a fingerprint that is to be registered as the finaluser fingerprint, may register the generated final fingerprint image1501 as a user fingerprint, and may display the generated finalfingerprint image 1501 on the execution screen.

Although the fingerprint shape located at the center of the display areais detected as a feature point for convenience of description in variousembodiments of the present embodiments of the present disclosureillustrated in FIGS. 14 and 15, the present disclosure is not limitedthereto and the location of a feature point that is referenced accordingto the next user fingerprint input may be identified with reference tothe detected feature point located in another area of the display areaby detecting the feature point.

FIGS. 16A, 16B, 16C, 16D and 16E illustrate a fingerprint registrationscreen of an electronic device according to various embodiments of thepresent disclosure.

Referring to FIG. 16, according to various embodiments of the presentdisclosure, the electronic device (for example, the electronic device101 of FIG. 1) may set, for example, a central area (or a center point)1603 in a fingerprint input first as the user inputs a fingerprint, andmay form a circle 1601 of a fingerprint area with reference to apredetermined radius of the central area.

The electronic device may identify the location of the central area 1603with respect to the central area 1605, 1607, 1609, or 1611 of thecurrently input fingerprint as the user inputs the next fingerprint, andmay guide a fingerprint input direction according to the location of thecentral area 1603. The fingerprint input direction may be set, forexample, to at least one of 4 directions, 8 directions, and 16directions, but the present disclosure may not be limited thereto andthe fingerprint input direction may be set in various directions.

According to various embodiments of the present disclosure of FIG. 16,the electronic device may synthesize all the fingerprint imagescorresponding to the plurality of fingerprints input according to theguided fingerprint input direction to generate a fingerprint image thatis to be finally registered. The fingerprint image that is to be finallyregistered is a fingerprint image having a wide area, and because afailure probability of a fingerprint input may be decreased even if theuser inputs a fingerprint in any direction when the electronic device isdriven or a function of an application is executed through the followingrecognition of a fingerprint, a fingerprint recognition rate can beincreased. FIGS. 17A, 17B, 17C, 17D, 17E and 18 are diagramsillustrating a fingerprint registration screen of an electronic deviceaccording to various embodiments of the present disclosure.

Referring to FIG. 17, according to various embodiments of the presentdisclosure, the electronic device (for example, the electronic device101 of FIG. 1) may identify feature points in a fingerprint input firstas the user inputs a fingerprint, and may generate a guide message forthe next fingerprint input based on the identified feature points. Theelectronic device may store and display a fingerprint image 1701 for afingerprint input to the execution screen of the display unit, and maydisplay a guide message 1703 (for example, “Input right area”) thatguides the next fingerprint input or output the guide message 1703 as asound source.

If the user inputs a fingerprint again according to the guide message1703, the electronic device may store and display the fingerprint image1705 for the input fingerprint. For example, if the user inputs a rightarea of a finger again according to the guide message 1703, afingerprint of the right area of the finger may be displayed as in thefingerprint image 1705. The electronic device may identify featurepoints in the input fingerprint, and may generate a guide message 1707that guides the next fingerprint input based on the identified featurepoint and display the generated guide message 1707. According to variousembodiments of the present disclosure, the electronic device may comparethe identified feature points and the previous feature points to set afingerprint input direction, and may generate and display a guidemessage 1707 (for example, “Input left area”) that guides the nextfingerprint input according to the set fingerprint input direction.

If the user inputs, for example, a fingerprint of a left area of afinger according to the guide message 1707 again, the electronic devicemay store and display a fingerprint image 1709 for a fingerprint of aleft area of a finger, and may generate and display a guide message 1711(for example, “Input upper area”) for inputting a fingerprint accordingto the set fingerprint input direction by setting a fingerprint inputdirection as described above.

If the user inputs, for example, a fingerprint of an upper area of afinger according to the guide message 1707 again, the electronic devicemay store and display a fingerprint image 1713 for a fingerprint of anupper area of a finger, and may generate and display a guide message1715 (for example, “Input lower area”) for inputting a fingerprintaccording to the set fingerprint input direction by setting afingerprint input direction as described above.

If the user inputs a fingerprint, for example, of a lower area of afinger according to the guide message 1707 again, the electronic devicemay store and display a fingerprint image 1717 for the fingerprint of alower area of the finger, and as described above, may compare thepreviously identified feature points and the currently identifiedfeature points to determine whether a fingerprint of the entire area ofthe finger is input when a fingerprint input direction is set. If it isdetermined that the fingerprint of the entire area of the finger isinput, the electronic device may perform a control to stop inputting afingerprint without setting a next fingerprint input direction.According to various embodiments of the present disclosure, theelectronic device may display a guide message 1719 (for example,“Fingerprint is completely input”) for guiding completion of input of afingerprint. Meanwhile, if it is determined that the entire area of thefingerprint is not input, the electronic device may set the nextfingerprint input direction, and may generate and display a guidemessage according to the set fingerprint input direction as describedabove.

Referring to FIG. 18, according to various embodiments of the presentdisclosure, the electronic device may synthesize all the storedfingerprint images to generate the finally registered fingerprint image1801 according to the guide message 1719 for guiding completion of theinput of the fingerprint. The electronic device may register afingerprint image 1801 that is to be registered finally, and may displaya guide message 1802 (for example, “Fingerprint is completelyregistered) for guiding completion of registration of a fingerprint. Thefingerprint image that is to be finally registered is a fingerprintimage having a wide area, and because a failure probability of afingerprint input may be decreased even if the user inputs a fingerprintin any direction when the electronic device is driven or a function ofan application is executed through the following recognition of afingerprint, a fingerprint recognition rate can be increased.

According to various embodiments of the present disclosure, theelectronic device (for example, the electronic device 101 of FIG. 1) mayguide a fingerprint input direction to the user as described above whena fingerprint of the user is not input at a central location of at leastone sensor area included in the electronic device and the recognition ofa fingerprint fails.

Although it has been described in various embodiments of the presentdisclosure described above that the electronic device guides the nextfingerprint input direction by using a feature point, the presentdisclosure is not limited thereto and the electronic device may guide afingerprint input direction of the user by using an area of the inputfingerprint of the user. According to various embodiments of the presentdisclosure, if a margin (empty space) is present in an area thatdisplays a fingerprint image corresponding to the fingerprint of theuser, the electronic device may identify an area of a fingerprint thatis input through the margin. According to various embodiments of thepresent disclosure, when an area for recognition of a fingerprintincludes a plurality of sensors, the electronic device may identify anarea of the fingerprint of the user that is input based on signalsreceived from a plurality of sensors that recognize a fingerprint. Inaddition, an area of a fingerprint of the user that is input throughvarious schemes may be identified.

In the above-mentioned embodiments of FIGS. 14, 16, and 17, when theelectronic device sequentially displays fingerprint images for thesequentially input fingerprints while guiding the next fingerprint inputdirection, it may sequentially display fingerprint images that are to bedisplayed, more clearly (for example, gradually densely, graduallybrightly, gradually distinctly, or gradually realistically), or maydisplay a fingerprint image as in the embodiment of FIG. 7.

FIGS. 19A, 19B, 19C, 19D and 19E illustrate a fingerprint registrationscreen of an electronic device according to various embodiments of thepresent disclosure.

Referring to FIG. 19, according to various embodiments of the presentdisclosure, the electronic device (for example, the electronic device101 of FIG. 1) may sequentially display fingerprint images 1901, 1903,1905, 1907 and 1909 on an execution screen according to the operationsas the operations of inputting a fingerprint and processing recognitionof the fingerprint are repeated (FIGS. 6A to 6E). The electronic devicemay display the fingerprint images 1901, 1903, 1905, 1907 and 1909 thatare sequentially displayed whenever the fingerprint of the user is inputsuch that the fingerprint images 1901, 1903, 1905, 1907 and 1909 maybecome gradually bright or distinct sequentially by adjusting a displayattribute of the image (for example, at least one of brightness, lightand shade, chroma, contrast, and color). For example, a fingerprint ofthe user input first, that is, the fingerprint image 601 correspondingto a fingerprint shape is displayed blurredly or unclearly, and thefingerprint images 1901, 1903, 1905, 1907, and 1909 corresponding to thefingerprints input later may be displayed sequentially brightly ordistinctly. A clearness (for example, brightness or distinctness) of thedisplayed fingerprint image may be adjusted according to the fingerprintregistration progress rate.

According to various embodiments of the present disclosure, theelectronic device may sequentially display an area of a fingerprintshape while enlarging the area in fingerprint images 1901, 1903, 1905,1907, and 1909 that are sequentially displayed brightly or distinctly.

According to various embodiments of the present disclosure, theelectronic device may sequentially display the entire fingerprint shapeor a portion of the fingerprint shape of the sequentially displayedfingerprint images gradually brightly or distinctly.

According to various embodiments of the present disclosure, theelectronic device may display at least one piece of display forminformation as a gauge bar and a guide message together with thefingerprint images 1901, 1903, 1905, 1907, and 1909 on the displayedexecution screen.

FIG. 20 illustrates a block diagram of an electronic device 2001according to various embodiments of the present disclosure. Theelectronic device 2001 may form, for example, a part or the entirety ofthe electronic device 101 illustrated in FIG. 1. Referring to FIG. 20,the electronic device 2001 may include at least one ApplicationProcessor (AP) 2010, a communication module 2020, a SubscriberIdentifier Module (SIM) card 2024, a memory 2030, a sensor module 2040,an input device 2050, a display 2060, an interface 20270, an audiomodule 2080, a camera module 2091, a power management module 2095, abattery 2096, an indicator 2097, and a motor 2098.

The at least one application processor 2010 may have the same or similarstructure to the controller 110 of FIG. 1. For example, the AP 2010 maycontrol a plurality of hardware or software components connected theretoby driving an operating system or an application program and perform avariety of data processing and calculations. The at least one AP 2010may be implemented as, for example, a System on Chip (SoC). According toan embodiment of the present disclosure, the AP 2010 may further includea Graphical Processing Unit (GPU) and/or an image signal processor. Theleast one AP 2010 may include at least some of the components (forexample, a cellular module 2021) illustrated in FIG. 20. The at leastone AP 2010 may load instructions or data, received from at least oneother component (for example, a non-volatile memory), in a volatilememory to process the loaded instructions or data, and may store varioustypes of data in a non-volatile memory.

The communication module 2020 may have, for example, the same or similarconfiguration to the communication unit (not illustrated) described inFIG. 1. The communication module 2020 may include, for example, acellular module 2021, a Wi-Fi module 2023, a BT module 2025, a GPSmodule 2027, an NFC module 2028, and a Radio Frequency (RF) module 2029.

The cellular module 2021 may provide a voice call, video call, textmessage services, or Internet services through, for example, acommunication network. According to an embodiment of the presentdisclosure, the cellular module 2021 may identify and authenticateelectronic devices 2001 within a communication network by using asubscriber identification module (for example, the SIM card 2024).According to an embodiment of the present disclosure, the cellularmodule 2021 may perform at least some of the functions which may beprovided by the at least one AP 2010. According to an embodiment of thepresent disclosure, the cellular module 2021 may include a communicationprocessor (CP).

The Wi-Fi module 2023, the BT module 2025, the GPS module 2027, and theNFC module 2028 may include, for example, a processor for processingdata transmitted/received through the corresponding module. According toany embodiment, at least some (for example, two or more) of the cellularmodule 2021, the Wi-Fi module 2023, the BT module 2025, the GPS module2027, and the NFC module 2028 may be included in one Integrated Chip(IC) or IC package.

The RF module 2029 may transmit/receive, for example, a communicationsignal (for example, an RF signal). The RF module 2029 may include, forexample, a transceiver, a Power Amp Module (PAM), a frequency filter, aLow Noise Amplifier (LNA), or an antenna. According to anotherembodiment of the present disclosure, at least one of the cellularmodule 2021, the Wi-Fi module 2023, the BT module 2025, the GPS module2027, and the NFC module 2028 may transmit/receive an RF signal througha separate RF module.

The SIM card 2024 may include, for example, a card including asubscriber identification module and/or an embedded SIM, and may furtherinclude unique identification information (for example, an IntegratedCircuit Card Identifier (ICCID)) or subscriber information (for example,International Mobile Subscriber Identity (IMSI)).

The memory 2030 may have the same or similar structure to the storageunit 130 of FIG. 1. The memory 2030 may include, for example, aninternal memory 2032 or an external memory 2034. The internal memory2032 may include at least one of, for example, a volatile memory (forexample, a Dynamic Random Access Memory (DRAM), a Static RAM (SRAM), aSynchronous Dynamic RAM (SDRAM), and the like) and a non-volatile memory(for example, a One Time Programmable Read Only Memory (OTPROM), aProgrammable ROM (PROM), an Erasable and Programmable ROM (EPROM), anElectrically Erasable and Programmable ROM (EEPROM), a flash memory (forexample, a NAND flash memory or a NOR flash memory), a hard drive, or aSolid State Drive (SSD).

The external memory 2034 may further include a flash drive, for example,a Compact Flash (CF), a Secure Digital (SD), a Micro Secure Digital(Micro-SD), a Mini Secure Digital (Mini-SD), an eXtreme Digital (xD), amemory stick, or the like. The external memory 2034 may be functionallyand/or physically connected to the electronic device 2001 throughvarious interfaces.

The sensor module 2040 may have, for example, the same or similarconfiguration to the fingerprint input unit 121 of FIG. 1, and may senseinput information (for example, a gesture input) corresponding to acommand for transmitting information related to at least one object. Thesensor module 2040 may measure, for example, a physical quantity ordetect an operation state of the electronic device 2001, and may convertthe measured or detected information to an electrical signal. The sensormodule 2040 may include, for example, at least one of a gesture sensor2040A, a gyro sensor 2040B, an atmospheric pressure sensor 2040C, amagnetic sensor 2040D, an acceleration sensor 2040E, a grip sensor2040F, a proximity sensor 2040G, a color sensor 204011 (for example,red, green, and blue (RGB) sensor), a biometric sensor 20401, atemperature/humidity sensor 2040J, an illumination sensor 2040K, and anUltra Violet (UV) sensor 2040M. Additionally or alternatively, thesensor module 2040 may include, for example, an E-nose sensor, anelectromyography (EMG) sensor, an electroencephalogram (EEG) sensor, anelectrocardiogram (ECG) sensor, an infrared (IR) sensor, an irisscanner, and/or a fingerprint sensor. The sensor module 2040 may furtherinclude a control circuit for controlling at least one sensor includedtherein. In some embodiments of the present disclosure, the electronicdevice 2001 may further include a processor configured to control thesensor module 2040 as a part of or separately from the at least one AP2010, and may control the sensor module 2040 while the at least one AP2010 is in a sleep state.

The input device 2050 may have, for example, the same or similarconfiguration to the input unit 120 of FIG. 1, and may include, forexample, a touch panel 2052, a (digital) pen sensor 2054, a key 2056, oran ultrasonic input device 2058. The touch panel 2052 may use at leastone of, for example, a capacitive type, a resistive type, an infraredtype, and an ultrasonic type. The touch panel 2052 may further include acontrol circuit. The touch panel 2052 may further include a tactilelayer, and provide a tactile reaction to a user.

The (digital) pen sensor 2054 may include, for example, a recognitionsheet which is a part of the touch panel or a separate recognitionsheet. The key 2056 may include, for example, a physical button, anoptical key or a keypad. The ultrasonic input device 2058 may detect anacoustic wave using a microphone (for example, the microphone 2088) ofthe electronic device 2001 through an input tool generating anultrasonic signal to identify data.

The display 2060 may have the same or similar configuration to thedisplay unit 140 of FIG. 1. The display 2060 may include a panel 2062, ahologram 2064, or a projector 2066. The panel 2062 may include acomponent equal or similar to the display 160 of FIG. 1. The panel 2062may be embodied to be, for example, flexible, transparent, or wearable.The panel 2062 may also be configured to be integrated with the touchpanel 2052 as a single module. The hologram device 2064 may show astereoscopic image in the air by using interference of light. Theprojector 2066 may project light onto a screen to display an image. Forexample, the screen may be located inside or outside the electronicdevice 2001. According to an embodiment of the present disclosure, thedisplay 2060 may further include a control circuit for controlling thepanel 2062, the hologram device 2064, or the projector 2066.

The interface 2070 may include, for example, a High-DefinitionMultimedia Interface (HDMI) 2072, a Universal Serial Bus (USB) 2074, anoptical interface 2076, or a D-subminiature (D-sub) 2078. The interface2070 may have the same or similar structure to the input unit 120 ofFIG. 1. Additionally or alternatively, the interface 2070 may include,for example, a Mobile High-definition Link (MHL) interface, a SecureDigital (SD) card/Multi-Media Card (MMC) interface, or an Infrared DataAssociation (IrDA) standard interface.

The audio module 2080 may bilaterally convert, for example, a sound andan electrical signal. The audio module 2080 may process soundinformation input or output through, for example, a speaker 2082, areceiver 2084, earphones 2086, the microphone 2088, or the like.

The camera module 2091 is, for example, a device which may photograph astill image and a dynamic image. According to an embodiment, the cameramodule 2091 may include one or more image sensors (for example, a frontsensor or a back sensor), a lens, an Image Signal Processor (ISP) or aflash (for example, LED or xenon lamp).

The power management module 2095 may manage, for example, power of theelectronic device 2001. According to an embodiment of the presentdisclosure, the power management module 2095 may include a PowerManagement Integrated Circuit (PMIC), a charger Integrated Circuit (IC),or a battery or fuel gauge. The PMIC may have a wired and/or wirelesscharging scheme. Examples of the wireless charging method may include,for example, a magnetic resonance method, a magnetic induction method,an electromagnetic method, and the like. Additional circuits (forexample, a coil loop, a resonance circuit, a rectifier, etc.) forwireless charging may be further included. The battery gauge 2096 maymeasure, for example, the remaining amount of battery, a chargingvoltage and current, or temperature. The battery 2096 may include, forexample, a rechargeable battery and/or a solar battery.

The indicator 2097 may display a particular status of the electronicdevice 2001 or a part thereof (for example, the AP 2010), for example, abooting status, a message status, a charging status, or the like. Themotor 2098 may convert an electrical signal into mechanical vibrations,and may generate a vibration or haptic effect. Although not illustrated,the electronic device 2001 may include a processing unit (for example,GPU) for mobile TV support. The processing device for supporting mobileTV may process media data according to a standard of Digital MultimediaBroadcasting (DMB), Digital Video Broadcasting (DVB), media flow or thelike.

Each of the components of the electronic device according to the presentdisclosure may be implemented by one or more components and the name ofthe corresponding component may vary depending on a type of theelectronic device. In various embodiments, the electronic device mayinclude at least one of the above-described elements. Some of theabove-described elements may be omitted from the electronic device, orthe electronic device may further include additional elements. Further,some of the components of the electronic device according to the variousembodiments of the present disclosure may be combined to form a singleentity, and thus, may equivalently execute functions of thecorresponding elements prior to the combination. For example, theelectronic device of FIG. 1 may include at least one of the elements ofthe electronic device as described above.

FIG. 21 is a block diagram of a program module according to variousembodiments of the present disclosure. According to various embodimentsof the present disclosure, the program module 2110 (for example, aprogram) may include an operating system (OS) that controls resourcesrelated to the electronic device (for example, the electronic device 101of FIG. 1) and/or various applications driven on the operating system.The operating system may be, for example, Android, iOS, Windows,Symbian, Tizen, Bada, or the like.

The program module 2110 may include a kernel 2120, a middleware 2130, anApplication Programming Interface (API) 2160, or applications 2170. Atleast a part of the program module 2110 may be preloaded on theelectronic device, or downloaded from a server.

The kernel 2120 may include, for example, a system resource manager 2121or a device driver 2110. The system resource manager 2121 may control,allocate, or retrieve the system resources. According to one embodimentof the present disclosure, the system resource manager 2121 may includea process management unit, a memory management unit, or a file systemmanagement unit. The device driver 2123 may include, for example, adisplay driver, a camera driver, a Bluetooth driver, a shared-memorydriver, a USB driver, a keypad driver, a Wi-Fi driver, an audio driver,or an Inter-Process Communication (IPC) driver.

The middleware 2130 may provide a function required by the applications1670 in common or provide various functions to the applications 2170through the API 2170 so that the applications 2160 can efficiently uselimited system resources of the electronic device. According to anexemplary embodiment, the middleware 2130 may include, for example, atleast one of a runtime library 2135, an application manager 2141, awindow manager 2142, a multimedia manager 2143, a resource manager 2144,a power manager 2145, a database manager 2146, a package manager 2147, aconnectivity manager 2148, a notification manager 2149, a locationmanager 2150, a graphic manager 2151, and a security manager 2152.

The runtime library 2135 may include, for example, a library module thata compiler uses in order to add new functions through a programminglanguage while the applications 2170 are executed. The runtime library2135 may perform input/output management, memory management, or afunction for an arithmetic function.

For example, the application manager 2141 may manage a life cycle of atleast one of the applications 2170. The window manager 2142 may manage aGUI resource used in a screen. The multimedia manager 2143 may detect aformat required for reproducing various media files and encode or decodea media file using a codec appropriate for the corresponding format. Theresource manager 2144 may manage resources, such as a source code, amemory, or a storage space, of at least one of the applications 2170.

The power manager 2145 may operate together with, for example, a BasicInput/Output System (BIOS), so as to manage a battery or power and mayprovide power information required for the operation of the electronicdevice. The database manager 2146 may generate, search for, or change adatabase to be used by at least one of the applications 2170. Thepackage manager 2147 may manage the installation or the updating ofapplications distributed in a package file form.

For example, the connectivity manager 2148 may manage wirelessconnections, such as Wi-i or Bluetooth. The notification manager 2149may display or notify of an event such as a received message, anappointment, a proximity notification, and the like to a user withoutdisturbance. The location manager 2150 may manage location informationof the electronic device. The graphic manager 2151 may manage graphiceffects to be provided to a user and user interfaces related to thegraphic effects. The security manager 2152 may provide various securityfunctions required for system security or user authentication. Accordingto an embodiment of the present disclosure, when the electronic device(for example, the electronic device 101 of FIG. 1) has a phone function,the middleware 2130 may further include a telephony manager for managinga voice or video communication function of the electronic device.

The middleware 2130 may include a middleware module for forming acombination of various functions of the aforementioned components. Themiddleware 2130 may provide modules specialized according to the type ofOS in order to provide differentiated functions. In addition, someexisting components may be dynamically removed from the middleware 2130,or new components may be added to the middleware 2130.

The API 2160 is, for example, a set of API programming functions, andmay be provided in another configuration according to an operatingsystem. For example, for each platform, one API set may be provided in acase of Android or iOS, and two or more API sets may be provided in acase of Tizen.

The application 2170 may include, for example, a home 2171, a dialer2172, an SMS/MMS 2173, an instant message (IM) 2174, a browser 2175, acamera 2176, an alarm 2177, a contact 2178, a sound dial 2179, an e-mail2180, a calendar 2181, a media player 2182, an album 2183, a clock 2184,or at least one application that may provide health care (for example,measuring an exercise degree or blood glycose) or environmentalinformation.

According to various embodiments of the present disclosure, theapplication 2170 may include an application (hereinafter, ‘aninformation exchange application for convenience of description) thatsupports information exchange between the electronic device (forexample, the electronic device 101 of FIG. 1) and an external device.The information exchange application may include, for example, anotification relay application for transmitting predeterminedinformation to the external electronic device, or a device managementapplication for managing the external electronic device.

For example, the notification relay application may include a functionof delivering notification information generated in another application(for example, an SMS/MMS application, an e-mail application, a healthcare application, or an environmental information application) of theelectronic device to an external device. The notification relayapplication may receive notification information from, for example, anexternal electronic device and provide the received notificationinformation to a user. For example, the device management applicationmay manage (for example, install, delete, or update) at least onefunction of the external electronic device (for example, the electronicdevice 104) communicating with the electronic device (for example, afunction of turning on/off the external electronic device itself (orsome components) or a function of adjusting luminance (or a resolution)of the display), applications operating in the external electronicdevice, or services provided by the external electronic device (forexample, a call service and a message service).

According to an embodiment of the present disclosure, the application2170 may include an application (for example, a health care application)designated according to an attribute of the external electronic device(for example, as an attribute of the electronic device, and the type ofthe electronic device is a mobile medical device). According to anembodiment of the present disclosure, the application 2170 may includean application received from an external electronic device. According toan embodiment of the present disclosure, the applications 2170 mayinclude a preloaded application or a third party application that can bedownloaded from a server. The names of the components of the programmodule 2110 of the illustrated embodiment of the present disclosure maybe changed according to the type of operating system.

According to various embodiments, at least a part of the programmingmodule 2110 may be implemented in software, firmware, hardware, or acombination of two or more thereof. At least some of the programmingmodule 2110 may be implemented (for example, executed) by, for example,the processor (for example, the AP 2110). At least some of theprogramming module 2110 may include, for example, a module, program,routine, sets of instructions, process, or the like for performing oneor more functions.

The term “module” or “functional unit” used herein may, for example,mean a unit including one of hardware, software, and firmware or acombination of two or more of them. The “module” may be interchangeablyused with, for example, the term “unit”, “logic”, “logical block”,“component”, or “circuit”. The “module” or “function unit” may be aminimum unit of an integrated component element or a part thereof. The“module” may be a minimum unit for performing one or more functions or apart thereof. The “module” or “function unit” may be mechanically orelectronically implemented. For example, the “module” or “function unit”according to the present disclosure may include at least one of anApplication-Specific Integrated Circuit (ASIC) chip, aField-Programmable Gate Arrays (FPGA), and a programmable-logic devicefor performing operations which has been known or are to be developedhereinafter.

According to various embodiments, at least some of the devices (forexample, modules or functions thereof) or the method (for example,operations) according to the present disclosure may be implemented by acommand stored in a computer-readable storage medium in a programmingmodule form. The instruction, when executed by a processor (e.g., thecontroller 110 of FIG. 1 or the application processor 2010 of FIG. 20),may cause the one or more processors to execute the functioncorresponding to the instruction. The computer-readable storage mediummay be, for example, the memory.

The computer readable recoding medium may include a hard disk, a floppydisk, magnetic media (e.g., a magnetic tape), optical media (e.g., aCompact Disc Read Only Memory (CD-ROM) and a Digital Versatile Disc(DVD)), magneto-optical media (e.g., a floptical disk), a hardwaredevice (e.g., a Read Only Memory (ROM), a Random Access Memory (RAM), aflash memory), and the like. In addition, the program instructions mayinclude high class language codes, which can be executed in a computerby using an interpreter, as well as machine codes made by a compiler.The aforementioned hardware device may be configured to operate as oneor more software modules in order to perform the operation of thepresent disclosure, and vice versa.

Any of the modules or programming modules according to variousembodiments of the present disclosure may include at least one of theabove described elements, exclude some of the elements, or furtherinclude other additional elements. The operations performed by themodules, programming module, or other elements according to variousembodiments of the present disclosure may be executed in a sequential,parallel, repetitive, or heuristic manner. Further, some operations maybe executed according to another order or may be omitted, or otheroperations may be added.

Various embodiments of the present disclosure provide a computerreadable recording medium in which a program performed on a computer isrecorded, wherein the program includes executable commands that, when aprocessor is executed, allows the processor to perform: an operation ofsequentially receiving fingerprints of a user; an operation ofdisplaying information on a fingerprint registration progress situationin correspondence to the plurality of sequentially input fingerprints;an operation of determining whether a fingerprint of the user is to beregistered according to the fingerprint registration progress situationinformation; and an operation of registering a fingerprint of the userby using at least some of the plurality of fingerprints.

Although the present disclosure has been described with an exemplaryembodiment, various changes and modifications may be suggested to oneskilled in the art. It is intended that the present disclosure encompasssuch changes and modifications as fall within the scope of the appendedclaims.

What is claimed is:
 1. An electronic device comprising: a fingerprintinput unit that sequentially receives at least one fingerprint of a usersensed by at least one sensor; a display unit; and a controllerconfigured to: control the display unit to display information of aninitially received fingerprint among the at least one fingerprint,change a display attribute gradually of the at least one fingerprint ofthe user based on an overlapping degree of the at least one fingerprintthat is sequentially received, control the display unit to displayinformation, sequentially, of the at least one fingerprint of the useraccording to the changed display attribute, and register a finalfingerprint generated using at least one of a plurality of sequentiallyreceived fingerprints.
 2. The electronic device of claim 1, wherein thecontroller is configured to change the display attribute to display afingerprint shape of a currently received fingerprint of the user moredensely than a fingerprint shape of a previously received fingerprint ofthe user.
 3. The electronic device of claim 1, wherein the controller isconfigured to change the display attribute to display a fingerprintshape of a currently received fingerprint of the user more brightly orclearly than a fingerprint shape of a previously received fingerprint ofthe user.
 4. The electronic device of claim 1, wherein the controller isfurther configured to control the display unit, whenever the at leastone fingerprint of the user is received, to display fingerprintregistration progress rates based on information relating to afingerprint registration progress situation corresponding to thereceived at least one fingerprint of the user.
 5. The electronic deviceof claim 1, wherein the controller is further configured to compare theplurality of sequentially received fingerprints to identify anoverlapping fingerprint area and a non-overlapping fingerprint area of acurrently received fingerprint, to differently set display attributes ofthe overlapping fingerprint area and the non-overlapping fingerprintarea, and to display the currently received fingerprint according to theset display attributes.
 6. The electronic device of claim 1, wherein thecontroller is further configured to synthesize fingerprint imagesgenerated in correspondence to the plurality of sequentially receivedfingerprints, and registers the final fingerprint based on a fingerprintimage within a predetermined radius from a most overlapping fingerprintarea on the synthesized fingerprint images.
 7. The electronic device ofclaim 1, wherein the controller is further configured to identify alocation of a reference feature point detected from a currently receivedfingerprint of the user and to guide a fingerprint input direction for anext fingerprint input according to the identified location.
 8. Theelectronic device of claim 1, wherein the controller is furtherconfigured to set a central area of a current received fingerprint ofthe user as a reference area and to guide a fingerprint input directionfor a next fingerprint input based on the reference area.
 9. Theelectronic device of claim 1, wherein the controller is furtherconfigured to set a fingerprint area based on a distribution of aplurality of feature points detected from the plurality of sequentiallyreceived fingerprints, and register the final fingerprint containing theset fingerprint area.
 10. A method of registering a fingerprint in anelectronic device, the method comprising: sensing, sequentially, atleast one fingerprint of a user by at least one sensor; displayinginformation of an initially received fingerprint among the at least onefingerprint; changing a display attribute gradually of the at least onefingerprint of the user based on an overlapping degree of the at leastone fingerprint that is sequentially received; displaying, sequentially,the at least one fingerprint of the user according to the changeddisplay attribute; and registering a final fingerprint generated usingat least one of a plurality of sequentially received fingerprints. 11.The method of claim 10, wherein the display attribute of the at leastone fingerprint of the user is changed to display a fingerprint shape ofa currently received fingerprint of the user more densely than afingerprint shape of a previously received fingerprint of the user. 12.The method of claim 10, wherein the display attribute of the at leastone fingerprint of the user is changed to display a fingerprint shape ofa currently received fingerprint of the user more brightly or clearlythan a fingerprint shape of a previously received fingerprint of theuser.
 13. The method of claim 10, the method further comprising:identifying fingerprint registration progress rates based on informationrelating to a fingerprint registration progress situation wheneverfingerprints of the user are received; and displaying the identifiedfingerprint registration progress rates.
 14. The method of claim 10,wherein changing the display attribute of the at least one fingerprintof the user comprises: comparing the plurality of sequentially receivedfingerprints; identifying an overlapping fingerprint area and anon-overlapping fingerprint area of a current received fingerprintaccording a result of the comparison; and differently setting displayattributes of the overlapping fingerprint area and the non-overlappingfingerprint area.
 15. The method of claim 10, wherein registering thefinal fingerprint generated using the at least one of the plurality ofsequentially received fingerprints comprises: synthesizing generatedfingerprint images in correspondence to the plurality of sequentiallyreceived fingerprints; and registering the final fingerprint based on afingerprint image within a predetermined radius from a most overlappingfingerprint area on the synthesized fingerprint images.
 16. The methodof claim 10, wherein registering the final fingerprint generated usingthe at least one of the plurality of sequentially received fingerprintscomprises: setting a fingerprint area, which is to be registered, basedon a distribution of a plurality of feature points detected from theplurality of sequentially received fingerprints; and registering thefinal fingerprint containing the set fingerprint area.
 17. The method ofclaim 10, further comprising: guiding a fingerprint input direction forthe a next fingerprint input based on a location of a reference featurepoint or a reference area.
 18. A non-transitory computer readablerecording medium in which a program performed on a computer is recorded,wherein the program comprises executable commands that, when a processoris executed, cause the processor to: an operation of sensing,sequentially, at least one fingerprint of a user by at least one sensor;an operation of displaying information of an initially receivedfingerprint among the at least one fingerprint; an operation of changinga display attribute gradually of the at least one fingerprint of theuser based on an overlapping degree of the at least one fingerprint thatis sequentially received; an operation of displaying, sequentially, theat least one fingerprint of the user according to the changed displayattribute; and an operation of register a final fingerprint generatedusing at least one of a plurality of sequentially received fingerprints.